Epigynous Berry
by Chyriyu
Summary: Ever have the feeling that something just does not belong? Like it spontaneously fell out of the sky and no-one has any explanation for its existence…? --or a completely ridiculous one that just can’t tread water at all.
1. Prologue: Epigynous Berry

**Title:** Epigynous Berry**  
Authoress:** Chyriyu**  
Rating:** T**  
Type:** Continuous**  
Genre:** Humor/General/Fantasy/anything else that applies**  
Disclaimer:** All the wonder that is Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.  
**Summary:** Ever have the feeling that something just doesn't belong? Like it spontaneously fell out of the sky and no-one has any explanation for its existence…? --or a completely ridiculous one that just can't tread water at all.

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Prologue

- Epigynous Berry -

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_Rough hands and a sharp gush of air. A hard shove and then the sensation of falling. All happening so fast so as to appear a dark, dizzying blur. Eyes clenched shut from the barrage of sudden whirring brightness only to open wide again in the face of vast, forbidden darkness. Silent pleads turned fearful cries fell upon no-body as they repeatedly faded away in endless abandon._

_Familiar, crystalline light was to be found nowhere. In its place, a shadowed void stretched out as deep as starless skies._

_Melodious song squandered out in favor of devoid devil-cry._

_  
--_

_And it all became too much…_

_-_

_Yet not enough._

_-  
._

-_x_-**X**-_x_-

The fallen figure lay amongst the leaves of the forest floor. A face gazed heavenward with eyes unaware of the slumbering world. Fingers twitched with dreamless sleep as wisps of hair grazed across first a cheek, then an elbow. Speckled moonlight yearned across moon-paled flesh to play with the shadows.

Lips parted with a chilled breath and frowned with the sudden chill, yet did nothing more. A cool zephyr scattered flora deftly across the body seemingly to hide it all the more discreetly.

And the girl slept on, none the wiser.

.

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* * *

_To be continued...with the entrance of Team 7.  
_


	2. Chokeberry

**Title:** Epigynous Berry  
**Authoress:** Chyriyu  
**Rating:** T  
**Type:** Continuous  
**Genre:** Humor/General/Fantasy/anything else that applies  
**Disclaimer:** All the wonder that is Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san.  
**Summary:** Ever have the feeling that something just doesn't belong? Like it spontaneously fell out of the sky and no-one has any explanation for its existence…? --or a completely ridiculous one that just can't tread water at all.

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**AN:** I suppose I have now re-entered the realm of fanfiction-dom. Trying something new here involving formatting, personal style and seeing how long I can keep characters _in character_. This is mostly an experiment for myself in seeing how well I can join two different worlds (being _Naruto_ and my own original from the book I am working on). I know many people dislike (usually read as "utterly despise") OCs, so I warn now, this story does star one (though I pray she doesn't turn to the dark side of Sue-dom, and I will do everything in my power to prevent that --that's where feedback comes in--hint, hint, nudge, nudge--).

I'm also toying around with chapter titles in relevance to the chapters themselves -- see if you can figure out the pattern and meanings behind each one. (I'd love to see what you think.)

The currant Character headings are there for now because they are the two formost main characters (as of yet--may have some unexpected changes), not necessarily because they are a pairing.

For now, I will just post up to the first chapter and see how that is received while I work on the next few. This is an explanitory Author's Note, I don't make a habit of putting them in, so don't expect them unless it is for me to explain something I wrote. Reviews/feedback are always welcome. Remember, if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to read it.

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**Warning--**_in case of confusion_**--:** The girl _does not_ understand them. She can only guess by their actions. And on the other side, the group isn't too quick to pick up on that. This should become clearer in future chapters.

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Chapter One

**- Chokeberry -**

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"_I still can't believe you could _trip _over her, though, Naruto."_

"_But I didn't see her!"_

Noise was howling in her ears, but she couldn't make sense out any of it. Sounds slurred together in her state of semi-consciousness.

"_Yet you couldn't _sense _her? What if it was a trap!?"_

"_Well…uhm… No, Sakura! I _didn't_ sense her, _'tebayo!_"_

"_She doesn't seem injured at all. She has really low-leveled chakra; she may have collapsed here from exhaustion."_

"_Maybe we should take her with us then."_

"_Well _of course_; we aren't going to leave her out here in this condition! She's almost sickly pale! If she's not ill now, she will be soon. Kakashi-sensei?"_

A far-from-pleasant numbness overtook her body as she tried to make sense of the _non_sensical jargon being muttered around her. Gravity refused to relinquish hold of her limbs, and eyelids felt too heavy to lift even a fraction. She couldn't even flinch as cool fingers ghosted lightly over her arms and face.

"_From our location, she could belong to any of the villages in the vicinity. She doesn't look dressed for travel, however, which is what worries me. If she has pursuers, she will be safer with us. She hasn't been here very long, so we should move quickly in the case of being followed."_

"_Right. Once she recovers, we can question her, and then she can be returned to her village. Naruto?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Pick her up."_

"_Huh?"_

"_You're carrying her."_

"_What!?"_

"_You. Are. Carrying. _Her_."_

"_Fine…"_

Grumbling and more shuffling and then she felt hands jerkily attempt to lift her limp body from where it lie. The motion sent a jolt through her and she involuntarily swallowed a large sum of air, triggering a coughing fit.

"_Waaah!"_

"Naruto! _Geez, you almost dropped her! Is she okay?"_

"_I think she's awake!"_

Her coughing continued as she felt herself being lowered to the ground. Her arm shot out and she felt her hand close around rough fabric. Keeping herself propped up on the arm supporting her, the girl cracked an eye open, only to be met with blinding light and surrounding too-bright colors. Scrunching her eyes closed again, she relaxed her body and took calming breaths to relieve the coughing.

"_You alright?"_

She assumed the rough, boyish voice was talking to her -- it came from the one holding her. She cracked her eyes open slowly and was met with the vision of wide, excited-looking, cerulean eyes. Recoiling back from the close proximity of the boy, she rubbed the blurriness away from her eyes.

The blond, blue-eyed boy sat further away from her yet still lent his arm to her support. Looking past him, she noticed a girl -- the one she'd heard earlier, assuming she was the only other girl -- with pink-hued hair and beaming virescent eyes kneeling not too far away.

The pink-haired girl gave a bright smile and slight wave, "Hi."

The blond-haired boy seemed to have noticed something about her and turned to the pink-haired girl. "Hey, Sakura-chan! Maybe she's a Hyuuga! Look at her eyes! They're so pale, _'tebayo_!"

"Aa, Naruto, her whole eye would be that color, though," came another voice, this time lower-pitched, from somewhere to her right.

The three strangers looked to her expectantly. Now that she could hear properly, the girl could make out that they were talking -- to each other and occasionally to her -- but she couldn't understand what they were saying. This began the first, albeit distant, stirrings of panic.

The blond opened his mouth to speak. Then closed it. Then repeated. "You alright?" A pause. Wide eyes blinked. Head tilted to the side. The boy turned to the girl. "Ya think maybe she's mute?"

_Whack_

"_Naruto!"_ The pink-haired girl glared at the cringing boy rubbing his head. "You idiot, don't make assumptions like that! She's probably terrified!" She turned a kindly to smile her and pointed to herself, "I'm Sakura!"

The girl stared blankly, though her foggy mind attempting to work in overdrive. _'Sakura.'_ She had heard the word thrown about many times in reference to the girl. It was most likely safe now to assume it as either the other girl's name or title. She pointed to the pink-haired girl and parroted the word back at her, "Sa-ku-ra…?" At 'Sakura's' nod, she allowed a shy smile to play across her lips.

"Oo, oo, me next! _Me_ next!" The boy bounced up with a grin and boldly posed with his thumb jerked towards himself. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, _dattebayo!" _was shouted loud enough to possibly be heard in neighboring regions.

'_Oo-tsoo-mah-kee-nah-roo-toh dah-teh-bah-yoh…?'_ "Oo-tsoo…mah-kee?" she stumblingly started, the sounds unfamiliar to her.

"Well, if our presence somehow _wasn't_ noticed before, it certainly will be _now_," in her bewilderment with the blond's antics, she had failed to notice the owner of the third voice come to crouch at her side. She looked up to see two sharp eyes focused on her. What was startling was the crimson that enshrouded only the left eye and the thin scar that ran through it down his face -- or what was visible of it, as a dark mask covered the lower part of his face absolutely. He seemed to be scrutinizing something about her, yet seemed satisfied as he turned his attention to the other two.

"We need to get a move on." He pulled his forehead protector over his crimson eye as he continued, "Introductions can be made once we've arrived at Konoha." He looked to the blond boy and then back at her. Sighing to himself -- shoulders sagging, eye drooping, head hanging -- he began helping her to her feet. Catching her off-guard, he swept her off her feet and settled her into his arms.

After the utterance if a quiet '_eek!_', she noted that Sakura and the blond -- known as something along the lines of '_Utsoomahkee_' -- had equally stunned looks.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, "Kakashi-sensei…?"

Nodding once -- ostensibly to himself -- he began, "We need to reach our destination before nightfall." After a moment, he added dryly, "All we need is a foreign country engaging us in war because of injuries to their princess due to Naruto dropping her."

"Whoa!" The blond's eyes bulged comically, not hearing the insult. "She's a princess? And how do you know she's foreign?" Though Sakura had stayed quiet, she wore a mixed pensive, inquisitive look, too.

Her silver-haired carrier huffed another sigh as he scanned the area, answering in a slight drawl, "I don't know about any such royal status she may carry, but with our luck, I wouldn't doubt it. As for her origin having foreign foundations, she hasn't understood a single word we've spoken since she woke up."

The blond simply looked even more confused, if possible, while a light of understanding shone from Sakura's face.

"Well then," jerking his head…in the direction of the trees? "Let's go."

She had expected them to walk or run on the ground, following the forest paths -- in such case she would have mimed her way into doing so on her own two feet -- , when they all swiftly took to the tree canopy surrounding them.

After the initial shock -- which consisted of tensing and burying her face into her transport's shoulder against the dizzying pictures and brisk wind caused by their speed of travel -- she found that she liked the kind of smooth, lulling bounce of jumping from tree to tree. She spared a few glances to watch the scenery go by with almost trance-inducing repetitiveness. Flashes of splotched color were thrown in when Sakura or the blond boy would jump ahead, only to have her spiky, silver-haired companion race to the front once more.

When she thought about it, these trees reminded her much of the ones in her homeland; yet, they were so different at the same time.

Her thoughts, combined with the smooth rocking, soon lulled her into a peaceful sleep, unknowing of the eye watching her drift off.

-_x_-**X**-_x_-

It was nearly sundown, with the last few rays of the sun casting a red blanket over the land, when Team 7 finally made it to the Gates of Konoha.

Sakura stretched her arms above her head and took a deep breath, exhaling, "Ah, home sweet home."

Off a little ways to their left on sentry duty, yawning lethargically and tipped back in their chairs, were Izumo and Kotetsu. Izumo just watched the Team idly as Kotetsu chatted with an only vaguely interested Genma. Kotetsu offered the group a tired wave of acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Genma. Unfortunately, said person's interest had moved on to the rag-tag group of shinobi approaching.

Pushing himself away from the wall he had been leaning against, Genma greeted the group with a nod of his head as he walked towards them -- leaving behind a forgotten and slightly annoyed Kotetsu. Toying with the senbon held in his mouth, he glanced over the group, his eyes straying to Kakashi -- or, more accurately, whom he was holding. Smirking, an eyebrow rose; eyes meeting Kakashi's gaze for enlightenment.

"I didn't think you normally brought home souvenirs," was matched with a Cheshire-grin from the senbon-master.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the comment, and then gaped in horror as Kakashi actually humored him, "Special circumstances."

Followed by, "Mission success?"

Genma was met with a slow, cryptic nod from the Copy-nin.

"Boring mission with no action…?" Blank stare.

Sakura tuned him out as he started pestering Kakashi about the origins of the blithely-slumbering girl. All the while he was suffered with silence and cryptic replies -- most of which were complete B.S. and improv-ed on-the-spot (a true Kakashi-Profession).

Looking over to Naruto, Sakura noticed the fox-boy's gaze was focused intently on the Genma/Kakashi/Pixie-girl trio. She glanced over to watch Kakashi with the unconscious girl in his arms. Her brow furrowed as she thought about what they could do for the girl for the night. Kakashi would, undoubtedly, mention her in his mission report to Tsunade. As it was, something about the girl just didn't sit well with her.

Sakura couldn't place the girl's age at all -- venturing a guess, she would say anywhere from twelve to sixteen. She was absolutely _tiny!_ Naruto had mentioned to her on the way here, that the girl didn't feel like she weighed enough, even for her small physique. She held more of a…Faerie-like…Pixie-ish…appearance. Although…her features really weren't anything out of the ordinary, other than a cute assemblage. Sakura was sure that her long, midnight hair would cause more than a few envious glares from Ino, should the two ever meet -- the very thought making her grin maniacally inside.

-

--

"_So she's a long-lost princess from…where is _that_ located?"_

"_On a tiny, _very isolated_ island to the far west. We were sent to rescue her from kidnappers hired by an old geezer with a Power Ninjas obsession hell-bent on recreating some scene in that newly released movie."_

"_Ah! Hey, yeah…I saw previews for that! She does look…kinda…like the heroine…if you squint and change her hair color… Poor thing… Lucky you guys got to her before she found out why she was there -- would be scarred for life otherwise."_

"_Yeah. Unfortunately, she only speaks the remote, tribal language of that distant, _very_ distant, far away island. So we've had to mime everything to her."_

"_How did you find out about the mission then…?"_

"_An island-native ranger, self-taught in our language, traveled all the way here -- from that _o-so-very-far-away-island_ -- after hearing of the greatness and compassion of Konoha ninja and brokenly explained all the details to Tsunade."_

_Before Genma could reply to that…questionable…explanation, Naruto bounded over to the trio and waved his arms frantically before putting a finger to his lips with a none-too-quiet-_himself_, "_Shhh! _All your noisy chit-chatting is gonna wake her up!"_

--

-

However, even standing where she was, Sakura could see that the other girl was still of unhealthy pallor. She wanted to get the girl to the hospital to look her over properly; and possibly have Tsunade check out what she felt earlier with the girl's chakra. Her chakra was low, even for a civilian, but it kept fluctuating oddly. When she had prodded it with her own, Sakura was beyond shocked to find it nearly extinguish.

Addressing Kakashi, Sakura told him that it would be best if the girl was taken immediately to the hospital for a proper examination -- thus, also effectively cutting off anything more that Genma had to add. "Let Naruto take her while you go report to Tsunade-shishou. Tell her to come to the hospital to see us if she can."

There was, surprisingly, no complaining this time from Naruto, who actually seemed to be taking this with seriousness and delicacy towards the Pixy-lass. Once he was properly distracted with staring at the girl, Sakura turned to Kakashi again with a quiet inquisition, "Did you see what I felt earlier?"

Understanding what she meant, he nodded solemnly and silently before taking off to the Hokage's office.

--

...And so Genma was left behind to look on bemusedly.

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_To be continued...with Genma's musings and hospital visits.  
_


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